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Steel stocks at Chinese trading houses continued to fall for a tenth consecutive week last week to reach 7.44 million tonnes as of December 12, refreshing the historical low since Mysteel Global launched the survey in January 2013. Yet the drop in inventories notwithstanding, the steel market is seeing clear signs of weakening demand, especially for rebar, market sources indicated on Friday.
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The blast furnace capacity utilization rate among the 247 blast furnace steelmakers across China which Mysteel monitors showed a slight week-on-week decrease of 0.71 percentage point to reach 80.23% as of December 12, with the decline mainly among steel mills in East China’s Shandong province, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly survey released on December 13.
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China’s steel export volume has remained slack despite recent price rises together with the overall strengthening in China’s domestic prices, as higher prices have only highlighted the lack of pricing competitiveness in the global market, according to Chinese market sources on Tuesday.
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Total rebar output among China’s 137 sampled steel producers including integrated and mini mills under Mysteel’s weekly survey recovered by 2% on week to its three-month high of 3.6 million tonnes during November 28-December 4, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly report.
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(Source: CISA, compiled by www.Mysteel.net, 13% VAT Included)
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Stocks of the five major finished steel items held by the Chinese traders Mysteel regularly surveys in 35 major cities nationwide refreshed their record low during the week of November 29-December 5, declining for a ninth straight week by another 0.2% on week to 7.56 million tonnes, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly survey. However, the decline was much smaller than the 2.9% on-week decrease seen in the previous survey period.
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The most traded rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for May delivery remained rangebound during the week of December 2-6, increasing by a tiny Yuan 13/tonne ($1.8/t) from the settlement price on November 29 to end the daytime session on December 6 at Yuan 3,437/t. But market sources warn they foresee the price trending downward soon, Mysteel Global noted.
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Blast furnace capacity utilization among the 247 blast furnace steelmakers across China which Mysteel regularly monitors hit an eleven-week high of 80.94% over November 29-December 5, or up another 1.06 percentage points on week and by 2.20 points on year, Mysteel’s latest weekly survey indicated. Survey respondents explained that the production curbs imposed on steel mills in North China’s Hebei province were gradually relaxed during the survey period.
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China’s steel export offer prices strengthened for the third week over November 23-29 amid the strengthening in both domestic and global steel prices, though the pace slowed down with the week-on-week incline being modest at $2-3/tonne, according to Mysteel’s latest market survey.
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Total rebar output among the 137 sampled steelmakers Mysteel tracks regularly across the country reached 3.56 million tonnes over November 21-27, lower by just 0.2% or 7,800 tonnes on week, mainly due to some short-term maintenance on rebar mills in East China, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly production study.
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Stocks of the five major finished steel items held by the Chinese traders Mysteel regularly surveys in 35 major cities continued to decline for an eighth straight week over November 22-28 to touch a record low of 7.58 million tonnes, down another 2.9% or 228,100 tonnes on week, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly survey.
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After a week punctuated by price fluctuations, the most-traded rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for January delivery closed lower by Yuan 35/tonne ($5/t) on week at Yuan 3,620/t as of November 29 as the futures market was fraught with debate over physical fundamentals.
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Blast furnace capacity utilization among the 247 blast-furnace steel companies across China which Mysteel monitors continued to increase over November 22-28, rising by 1.42 percentage points on week to reach 79.89% – though admittedly, only a two-month high. During the week, Chinese steel mills maintained relatively high output as producers tried to make the most of the improved margins on finished steel before the weakening prices shaved their profits further.
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Chinese steel export prices rose higher last week, encouraged by the steady increases in domestic long steel prices, with the B500B rebar export price climbing by a large $15/tonne on week to reach $460/t FOB Shanghai port as of November 22, according to Mysteel’s weekly export price tracker.
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China’s rebar output from the 137 sampled steel producers Mysteel tracks regularly rebounded to three-month new peak over the November 14-20 week, climbing by 2.4% on week to nearly 3.6 million tonnes, according to Mysteel’s latest production report. Behind the output spurt was the swift growth in rebar prices across the country.
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Despite the high levels of supply, Chinese domestic prices of hot-rolled coil (HRC) continued trending upward during the week until November 22, mainly thanks to the robust demand, Mysteel Global has learned.
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Steel stocks at Chinese steel mills and traders have declined for seven consecutive weeks, thanks to unseasonably strong consumption so far in November, according to Mysteel’s latest inventory survey published on Friday.
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The most traded rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange for January delivery surged by Yuan 120/tonne ($17/t) from the settlement price on November 15 to close the daytime session at Yuan 3,655/t on November 22.
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The blast furnace capacity utilization rate among China’s 247 steelmakers primarily using blast furnaces for ironmaking kept stable over November 15-21, down by 0.21 percentage point on week to 78.47%, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly survey released on November 22.
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Rebar output among the 137 sampled longs makers Mysteel tracks regularly across China totalled 3.48 million tonnes during the week of November 7-13, nudging higher by a small 0.6% from the 3.46 million tonnes total recorded in the prior week, according to Mysteel’s latest weekly study.
